A Community of Support
The National Writing Project has changed my teaching style and impacted the education of the students since I became a teacher consultant. I started my teaching career in Kansas in 1997 and in 2005, I was named the Congressional Region 4 Kansas Teacher of the Year. Definitely a pinnacle moment in my teaching career; however, soon after that I returned to my native state of Missouri and found myself responsible for 180 students – a staggering number and responsibility. Overwhelmed, drowning and depressed, I contemplated leaving education.
Then, I was nominated for the Greater Kansas City Writing Project Summer Institute and was instantly surrounded by passionate, amazing teachers who reminded me what an amazing job we have. They nurtured me, taught me to love myself again and my students. They reminded me that each student has a story and that story is integral to the way students learn. They reminded me that high expectations make students excel instead of allowing them to wallow in indolence. They taught me new technology for my classroom. I started writing again and I published a book of poetry, a lifelong dream of mine. These revelations may not sound earth shattering but they are because impactful teaching requires a community of support, of real teachers facing the same real issues together creating solutions. Ideas, inspiration, opportunity does wonders, maybe even miracles because teaching really is quite difficult.
At that institute, I also met Amy Mahoney in the summer institute and by the end of the next year, her students, who were primarily African-American college bound, blogged with my students, who were primarily non-college bound Caucasians. We simultaneously read the holocaust novel Night by Elie Wiesel and students selected lines that impacted or affected them. Then the students from both schools with different demographics talked about the lines of the novel and how it affected them. They had an online discussion of the hate crimes that occurred during the holocaust. It was a profound experience for both Amy and me and for our students. Since that amazing unit, I have continued to ask my students to blog with students from different schools and I even taught a class through the Writing Project that paired up educators so they too could blog about common and relevant text to hopefully bridge the gap of disparity between races. It has been a phenomenal experience that I was fortunate enough to share in Florida at the national conference last November.
I am saddened beyond words to think what my students would have missed out on if I had not been a part of the National Writing Project and how the lack of funding will directly impact the future students in classrooms. What will be lost in education if teachers dedicated to providing a quality education are not supported? I just know the National Writing Project has changed me for the better, saved me when I needed it most, and most definitely deserves financial support. Children in classrooms are worth every penny and so are the teachers who show up every day, fully present and ready to change the world for the better.
Anne Farmer
Greater Kansas City Writing Project
Communication Arts/Senior English
Fort Osage High School
